That’s true of teams, too.
For executives managing teams full of competing hopes, agendas, and egos, conflict is a fact of life. Anytime a group of people set out to accomplish something, there will be disagreements. There will be competing ideas. There will be discomfort.
But in the end, the best teams use conflict as a way to grow together. In fact, it’s essential that conflict happens, because without the expression of all opinions consensus can’t be reached.
A lack of any conflict compromises the ability of a team to achieve results, so conflict needs to happen – but it needs to happen in a way that’s healthy.
Here’s how to create an environment where that can happen, and then how to manage the outcome well.
The first step to creating an environment where healthy conflict can happen is to build trust. If a team isn’t built on trust, conflict will always feel like a personal attack.
There are two key ways to build trust in a team context:
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With trust built, conflict can happen healthily. Ideas are expressed without fear of ridicule, competing ideas are brought to light, and discussion (and conflict) ensues. This is necessary in order for team members to feel that their voices are being heard.
As a leader, you can encourage healthy conflict by:
When all voices have been heard and all differing opinions have been aired, your team is ready to move to action. At this point, the team should be close to reaching some agreement; even if differing opinions remain, team members will be willing to commit to a route if they feel they’ve been fairly heard and understood.
It’s your job as leader to clearly articulate agreements, so that you can generate a clear understanding of what the group is committed to. You can do that by:
Once commitment is made, hold people accountable to the goals that have been decided upon and measure the results. If results don’t happen, go back to find where the process broke down:
And then take the steps to fix it.
Conflict isn’t easy, but managing it well is the key to team growth and achievement. As an executive coach, I’ve seen it time and time again: the best teams trust each other, have healthy conflict, and then commit to resolutions that attain real results.
If you’re still intimidated by the prospect of managing conflict as a leader, don’t run from it. Work on it. Whether you’re uncomfortable with conflict or too quick to cause it, learning how to manage team conflict well will help your team to grow.
And it’ll help you to become a better leader, too.
Related: Trust Trumps Loyalty On Leadership Teams
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